December 09, 2007

Cambodian Rocks (MP3s)

In 1996, the Parallel World label released the LP "Cambodian Rocks", a collection of Cambodian psych and garage music from the 60s and early 70s (probably), compiled by an American tourist named Paul Wheeler from some cassettes he bought in Phnom Penh. No information on the songs was provided at all, no artist names, no song titles, and no recording dates. Four years later, Parallel World reissued this compilation on CD with a few extra tracks, but still without any identifying information. Unfortunately, it is more than likely that many of the featured musicians, showing a definite Western influence in their music, were murdered by the Khmer Rouge regime which took over power in 1975. Certainly none of them ever received any money from the sales of this compilation. However, the music is wonderful, and here it is for your enjoyment.

Thanks to Giles, Robin Edgerton, and especially to Pyro Tech for identifying the artists and song titles. Pyro Tech's comment contains more info and links that you should definitely check out. You should also download Giles' compilation of music from the same time. Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Sereysothea, and Pan Ron were big stars in Cambodia before 1975, and all three "disappeared" under the Khmer Rouge, most probably killed like millions of others.

If anyone has more information about these tracks and/or the musicians, please leave a comment.

A few more or less helpful links: Kevin Nutt reviewed the CD and gave a little more background information; the Californian band Dengue Fever did a great job covering some of these songs; confusingly, the record label Khmer Rocks released a series of compilations also called Cambodian Rocks which doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Parallel World release.

Comments

this music is amazing! i'm a fan of dengue fever, which opened my eyes to the music scene in cambodia in the 60's. i just spent 1 week in cambodia on my recent vacation and picked up a stack of compilations. it is my new and favorite obsession to hear more of this music, learn about the musicians, and what was going on in cambodia at the time, and the tragic end that many of these artists met. thank you so much for making this available! cambodia is an amazing country and i hope to return someday.

I've been working on translating many of my Cambodian favorite Oldies songs . Just type samouth, samuth, or sothea for your search on Youtube and you'll likely to find my work. The translation is kind of unpolished, but the bits and clues it provides might help the listen make out what the song is about.

If you can't find it, try samouth and house of the rising sun for the search on Youtube. Enjoy.

Wow, this is awesome! I first came across Cambodian Rock on The Intercontinental, a show on WMBR (definitely recommended: http://www.wmbr.org/www/sched-wed#intercon). Today they played "Dengue Fever" on the radio and now I really wanted to get more of this!

I also added the track list to CDDB so instead of spår 1, spår 2 you can now get the correct tags automatically.

I have been looking at eBay,record dealer lists,and before that Goldmine for over thirty years,and I have never seen any of the original vinyl issues of Cambodian rock at any price.I have a few 60s rock records from Thailand and Burma,but none from Cambodia. What happened to these records ? Did any make it out of the country to other countries in Asia?Were they all destroyed by the Khmer Rouge ? Has anybody seen any?

Giles,
Do you have a listing of the composers of all the tracks on Cambodia Rocks? I'm glad to have the list of singers/artists on the tracks that you provided above, but now I would like to have a list of the song's composers.

Thanks for this.
As enjoyable as this album is, though, I think it cannot be stressed enough that these are, in fact, REMIXES of the ORIGINAL recordings, with additional overdubs added.
Still REALLY fun, regardless.

Thanks for the downloads. Sounds interesting. Got the tip from Ry Cooder "I got a record of some Cambodian rock guys doing this weird surf music, probably during the Cambodian war. It's called Cambodia Rocks. Listen to that. Now that's world music. That shit is so wicked it'll take your face off."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/music/melancholy-vista/2009/11/20/1258219956786.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2